Food Blog

Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning to Work Takes on New Meaning at Hardee's

St. Louis-based fast-food chain Hardee's announced yesterday a new menu item -- hand-breaded chicken tenders -- and while we'll let Ian determine whether the new dish is worth your money, you can be sure the new commercial is annoyingly quotable. (See video below.) But enough about the marketing for now.

The chicken tenders, according to a Hardee's press release, are the brainchild of a franchiser in North Carolina.

"The idea for doing Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders came to us from our largest franchisee, Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the same folks who pioneered the chain's famous Made From Scratch biscuits over a quarter of a century ago," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Hardee's Food Systems. "Once we tried them, we knew consumers would find them irresistible because they represent such a huge quality leap over the mostly pre-cooked and frozen chicken strips available now. Obviously, our Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders are a lot more work to make than the pre-cooked, frozen ones, but our experience tells us that consumers will notice the difference in quality and keep coming back for more."

We asked Hardee's spokeswoman Jenna Petroff about the new menu item, and here's what she had to say:

When did the North Carolina franchise bring up the idea to corporate? Not sure of the exact date, but I can tell you we've had R&D cooking these beauties up for a while. It's like a mad rush for the break room around here when they send out the all-company "there are chicken tenders on floor twelve" e-mail. Even at 9 a.m. And yes, I have pushed people down to get to them first. And no, I didn't feel bad. Cuz they're delicious.

Is there any advertising online for these, in the form of YouTube videos, etc.? Should be up on the Hardee's YouTube page shortly. You'll start seeing the commercials air in St. Louis on the 14th.

Will these be at all Hardee's nationwide? will they be at all Carl's Jr.? They should be at all Hardee's locations by the end of the month. St. Louis is one of the lucky markets that rolled out early. No current plans for a CJ rollout, but never say never.

Are there any plans to make a chicken-on-chicken sandwich like KFC's monstrous "double down"? We are the "imitatee" not the "imitator." Really. We're so much better than that. http://adage.com/article?article_id=144035